Israel Arrests Palestinian Man for Shooting in West Bank during Peace Talks Ahead of Ramadan Being Held

Illustration of Israeli security forces. (Wikimedia Commons/Israel Police)

JAKARTA - A Palestinian gunman opened fire on Sunday at an Israeli couple in their car, before returning and wounding the man in a West Bank city.

Israeli officials said the injured Israeli, who also has United States citizenship and soldiers at the scene returned fire, wounding the gunman, who was chased by soldiers and arrested.

The Israeli ambulance service said they had treated a man who was shot in Huwara. A paramedic, who was one of the first to arrive on the scene, said on Israel Radio an Israeli man was injured as he sat in the car with his wife.

Israeli media reported that the injured man was a former US Marine who now lives in a Jewish settlement in the West Bank, where he is a security instructor. The US ambassador to Israel confirmed that a US citizen had been injured in the attack. The embassy declined to provide further details.

The incident comes as Israeli and Palestinian officials are holding US-backed talks in Egypt aimed at easing months of violence.

The incident in Huwara, where last month a gunman from the Islamic militant group Hamas opened fire on a car and killed two Israeli settlers, also coincided with the day Israeli and Palestinian officials held de-escalation talks.

Settlers responded to last month's incident by setting fire to houses and cars, and killing a Palestinian in a rampage that was described by a senior military commander as a "pogrom".

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with US President Joe Biden about Sunday's shooting attack.

"The prime minister told President Biden, Israel will continue to take action everywhere against terrorists and architects of terrorism," PM Netanyahu's office said.

Separately, Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip and also has members in the West Bank, has criticized the Israeli-Palestinian de-escalation talks that took place last month in Jordan and on Sunday in Egypt.

They said yesterday's attack was a natural response to the Israeli occupation, although they did not claim responsibility.

The Hamas gunman responsible for last month's attack was killed by Israeli troops in an attack on a refugee camp in the West Bank city of Jenin earlier this month.

The West Bank has seen a spike in confrontation, with almost daily military raids and increasing settler violence amid a spate of attacks by Palestinians.

Sunday's talks are aimed at preventing further incidents when the holy month of Ramadan begins this weekend.

Over the past year, Israeli forces have made thousands of arrests in the West Bank and killed more than 200 Palestinians, including fighters and civilians. Meanwhile, more than 40 Israelis and three Ukrainians were killed in the attacks carried out by Palestinians.